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IMT Leverages Compuware Solutions to Facilitate Mainframe Transition
Technology Category
- Application Infrastructure & Middleware - Data Exchange & Integration
Applicable Functions
- Business Operation
Use Cases
- Process Control & Optimization
- Predictive Maintenance
Services
- Software Design & Engineering Services
- System Integration
The Challenge
The IMT Group, a leading Midwestern P&C insurer, heavily relies on its mainframe for core applications. However, the mainframe application environment is in transition. The company's mainframe transition strategy has two key objectives. One is re-platforming select applications, a process that requires intensive analysis of current mainframe code. It requires complete and accurate identification of “dead code”—sections of applications that have lapsed into disuse over the years, but remain present in source code. The other key objective is converging mainframe and non-mainframe environments. This convergence is taking place because of how the company’s newer web- and mobile-based applications depend on back-end mainframe resources. Both of these strategic objectives require developers to have clear, complete visibility into the structure and runtime behaviors of highly complex mainframe applications that have undergone a lot of change over the years and are not always well-documented.
About The Customer
The IMT Group, founded in 1883 and based in Des Moines, is a leading Midwestern P&C insurer with more than $300 million in assets. Like many companies of similar size and vintage, IMT depends heavily on its mainframe for core applications. The company's mainframe application environment is in transition, with a strategy focused on re-platforming select applications and converging mainframe and non-mainframe environments. This is due to the company’s newer web- and mobile-based applications depending on back-end mainframe resources. Therefore, IMT’s mainframe and non-mainframe developers have to work together.
The Solution
IMT has been making extensive use of Compuware’s mainframe solutions for about 20 years. These solutions include Xpediter and File-AID. Most recently, IMT extended its deployment of Compuware’s Topaz suite to include Topaz Workbench, Topaz for Enterprise Data and Topaz for Program Analysis with an emphasis on the Runtime Visualizer feature. These solutions provide a highly intuitive graphical environment for writing and reviewing code, understanding the behavior of that code in production and understanding the relationship between different applications and data sources across the mainframe environment. The broad Topaz suite provided IMT with several important new capabilities, including drag-and-drop application code and file management, common look-and-feel across languages, streamlined collaboration between developers with different skill sets, and fast, easy identification of “dead code.”
Operational Impact
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